


white birds and daggers

by ukiyofics



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Assassins & Hitmen, Assassin! Lucas, Assassin! Renjun, Attempted Murder (lowkey), Developing Friendships, Flirting (on yukhei’s part), Jeno is mentioned briefly, Johnny is mentioned multiple times, descriptions of killing a bird, its not super graphic, luren, there are mentions of blood and death!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-16
Updated: 2019-07-16
Packaged: 2020-06-29 11:09:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,191
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19828939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ukiyofics/pseuds/ukiyofics
Summary: how is renjun supposed to kill yukhei when he’s just so nice?in which huang renjun gets injured on his way to kill wong yukhei, and instead of turning renjun into the police or killing him, yukhei tends to his wounds and tells him jokes.





	white birds and daggers

**Author's Note:**

> hello!! i pumped this out just today as i’ve been laying in bed not feeling well doing absolutely nothing.
> 
> i hope you enjoy this short work!!

It _should_ have been simple. Renjun should have been in and out of the apartment in less than 5 minutes. Lucas should be on the floor bleeding out by now. Renjun should be on his way to collect his payment, collect his praise, and prove his worth to the higher ups. The blood should already be washing off of his hands. But it wasn’t simple at all. It was instead the frantic blur of feathers, screams, and his foot getting caught on the windowsill. It was his twisted, bruising ankle and cut forearm. It was, weirdly enough, his concerned target, dashing into the room and rushing to his side. 

_Nice fucking going, Renjun._

How he managed to mess up a mission that was given to him simply for its simplicity was beyond him. Because of his pride he blamed the large, angry, white bird sitting on its perch in the corner, but deep inside he knew it was because of his own nervousness. He was a stellar assassin. But it had been more than a year he’s actually killed. His fingers trembled at the thought of another life slipping away because of him.

As soon as his supposed-to-be target, Lucas, stepped into the room, Renjun whipped out a small, white dagger from inside his shirt. “Don’t step any closer unless you want to die.” 

Lucas froze, hands raising above his head. His wide eyes only got wider when he saw the cut on Renjun’s raised arm. “You’re hurt!” Lucas exclaimed, stepping forward with outstretched arms to help his would-be assailant. 

Renjun whipped his arm out, releasing his dagger from his grasp. It launched into the wall, centimeters from Lucas’ head. “What did I fucking say!” He shouted, covering his injured arm with his other hand. He rose to his feet, but his knees buckled as his left ankle couldn’t support his weight. “Damn..” He cursed under his breath. 

“You’re hurt, let me help you.” Lucas offered, taking another step towards Renjun. “I’ve got a first aid kit in my bathroom! And when I was little I was a boy scout they taught me basic first aid shit I think I could-” 

“Are you fucking stupid.” Renjun gaped. “I’m here to kill you and you want to help me?” 

Lucas rolled his eyes and fully dropped his arms to his side. He walked the rest of the way to Renjun. “What, did Johnny send you?” He raised the pitch of his voice mockingly. Renjun shut his mouth, his tongue becoming dry. “Johnny’s just a coward that kills to run away from his problems.” Lucas swiftly lifted locked his arms around Renjun’s waist and hoisted him over his shoulder. “Weirdly enough, he can't do the dirty work himself.”

Renjun wiggled out of Lucas’ grasp before spitting in his face. “You know nothing about what you’re dealing with.” Renjun sneered. Lucas’ face contorted into a look of pure disgust as he frantically wiped the saliva off of his nose, before grabbing Renjun’s wrist and roughly yanking him forward. “I’ve been dealing with this for years.” Lucas hissed through his teeth, their noses inches apart, Renjun struggling to release himself from Lucas’ grip. 

“Do you know how many of Johnny’s hitmen I’ve seen come through my window at night? How many I’ve never seen again. Do you know why he always hires a different assassin every time? Because he kills them. Whether they completed their mission or not he kills them.” Renjun’s eyes widened at these words. He stopped trying to free himself from Lucas’ hands. 

“Why? I don’t know. I assume it’s to save his precious money.” Lucas scoffed. “That’s all he’s ever cared about anyway.”

Renjun stayed silent, eyes dropping to look at his feet. What Lucas said didn’t make any sense. Johnny was the good guy. He wanted justice for the loss of his family, right? He wouldn’t kill him once he returned, would he?

Renjun looked up into Lucas’ eyes. “Your name is Lucas Wong. You’re a ruthless killer. You took everything from Johnny. As far as I know, you deserve to die.” He dug his nails into Lucas’ wrist. Lucas’ gaze never even flinched as Renjun drew blood. 

“Maybe the killer part is true,” He grimaced. “But I wouldn’t say ruthless. Merciful? Maybe. Justified? Definitely.

“And my name is Yukhei, by the way. Lucas is just a pseudonym of sorts.” He smiled, gently relaxing Renjun’s nails from his skin. “Let’s get you bandaged up, okay?”

“How can I trust you! You killed my boss’ family, I can’t trust-“

“Look, I don’t know who you are. I’m the one that shouldn’t be trusting you, you just climbed through my window to try and kill me, right?” 

Renjun’s voice died in his throat. Yukhei continued. 

“And maybe if I told you why I did what I did, you’d see why you can trust me.” Yukhei began to pull Renjun out of the small room with the aggressive bird in and glanced back at the smaller boy behind him. “Johnny’s _family_ was barely family to him. He used them, trained them to be merciless killers. They killed for fun. He used them to instill fear into the city, its citizens, even law enforcement. So I went to stop it.”

“If they were ruthless killers as you say, why aren’t you hurt? You don’t seem to have any injuries or remnants of-“

Yukhei stopped walking and dropped Renjun’s wrist, rolling up his right pant leg to reveal what should be his leg. There wasn’t much leg left. Instead of skin and muscle, it was plastic and metal. Yukhei shifted his weight, the yellow light glinting off of his metal limb.

“There’s what they got.” He sighed, walking into his living room. The grasp he had on Renjun’s wrist was gone now. Renjun could sprint back down the hallway and escape right now. He could go make his report to Johnny, or run away and flee the country. But he didn’t. 

Renjun, with nothing more to say, followed him into the living room. He stayed on his toes, stressed and scared, his fingertips gracing the extra knife tucked away into his belt every time he thought Yukhei would turn on him. 

He only began to relax when Yukhei would make random silly jokes or comments. 

“I had a coworker- well, somewhat of a coworker- once. Whenever I was with mutual acquaintances of ours they would always talk about a _Donghyuck_ , and I being the dumbass I am couldn’t connect the dots. Donghyuck was Haechan! My coworker. I always only ever called him Haechan. That’s what he always said when we were at work anyways. I guess that was his pseudonym or something.” Yukhei said as he swiped over Renjun’s cut with a cotton pad soaked in alcohol. 

Renjun winced and drew his arm back. “Aw, c’mon Mr. Strong Assassin, you can handle a little alcohol on a cut.” 

“Fuck off.” 

“Fine, let’s move onto your ankle.” Yukhei roughly grabbed Renjun’s foot, causing Renjun to hiss in pain. In retaliation, Renjun grabbed the dagger from his belt and raised it to Yukhei’s throat. “Watch it.” 

Yukhei smiled and put down his foot, elbows resting on his knees, chin plopping down onto his hands as he gazed into Renjun’s eyes. “I’d rather watch you instead.” He said. Renjun’s squinted as he flushed, the tips of his ears heating up in embarrassment. He dropped his knife onto his lap and leaned back, kicking Yukhei in the shoulder lightly. “Fuck off.”

“Is that all you know how to say?” Yukhei teased, picking Renjun’s foot up again, gently this time, while rolling up Renjun’s pant leg. “What’s your name, by the way?” 

Renjun’s lips stayed shut. Yukhei glared up at him as he rolled Renjun’s ankle in his hands. Renjun yelped in pain. “Renjun! My name is Renjun.” He yanked his leg away from Yukhei’s hands, only for it to be picked up swiftly once again.

“Is that a cover name or your real name?” Yukhei let Renjun’s leg down gently as he walked to the kitchen to grab an ice pack and a hot water bottle. 

“Real name.” Renjun mumbled.

“You don’t have a cool assassin name?” Yukhei returned with an ice pack wrapped in a cloth and a soft hot water bottle in his hands. 

“Not like Lucas is the coolest thing you could’ve come up with.” Renjun scoffed. 

“Hey! Lucas is convenient and easy to pronounce, you’re just a hater.” Yukhei elevated Renjun’s leg on the coffee table in front of him and carefully placed the ice pack on the most concentrated area of his bruise.

After that, it was an awkward few minutes of silence, the only noise the rumbling of an air conditioner above them.

“Why haven’t you killed me.” Renjun asked. His hands were sweating in his lap, nervous for the upcoming answer. Yukhei looked him right in the eyes and said, “I dunno.”

Renjun’s jaw nearly dropped. “You don’t know?” 

“Yeah.” Yukhei nodded. “I mean, I really should, y’know? But after all these young kids Johnny has sent in and seeing them fail again and again, only to go back in shame, never to be seen again, well it’s sad.

“Plus the stunt you pulled with my fucking bird.” Yukhei covered his eyes as he laughed, unashamed, unabashedly. “Bro, Cornelius hates visitors but I can't believe you got scared by him.”

“Okay, FIRST of all,” Renjun began. “Who fucking names a bird Cornelius.” He shifted in his seat as his face flushed. “Secondly, it screamed in my ear. How else was I supposed to react?” 

“I don’t know,” Yukhei shrugged, leaning back. “Kill it.”

Renjun paused. Yeah, Yukhei was right. His first instinct should’ve been to kill it. To whip out his dagger and slash its throat, to throw a knife so hard into its body it comes through the other side and nails the bird to the wall. But that wasn’t his first thought. Instead he was hit in the gut with shock and tripped over himself. He was a pathetic excuse for an assassin. He regrets thinking he could get back into it.

It wasn’t long before Yukhei interrupted his thoughts. “So, where are you gonna go after this?” He asked. 

“Uhhh.” Renjun didn’t know. He figured if Yukhei was right, he couldn’t go back to Johnny. It made sense, Yukhei’s story. He remembers his friend Jeno disappearing out of nowhere, and when he asked Johnny about it he was provided with vague answers, essentially saying Jeno was through with the assassanation business. It was dodgy, but Renjun eventually let it go.

“You can stay with me if you want.” Yukhei offered, yawning. “Of course, if you promise not to kill me in my sleep or something. 

“I have a spare room. It has Cornelius in it but I can move him out. You can sleep there until we have to relocate because y’know,” Yukhei pursed his lips and rolled his eyes. “Johnny knows where I am now, so.” 

“I don’t know.” Renjun sighed, pulling his legs fully onto the chair, strategically balancing the ice pack with it. “I don’t even know if you’re telling the truth.”

“Bro.” Yukhei snorted. “My leg is gone, bro.” 

Renjun glanced at Yukhei’s hunk of metal for a leg and sighed. “Yeah.” 

“Everything’s gone upside down in the span of an hour.” Renjun dropped his head into his hands. Cornelius in the back room screamed, causing him to jump and Yukhei to giggle. “I hate that fucking bird.” 

Yukhei gasped in defense. “You don’t even know him!” 

“He tried to take off my ear!” 

“You we’re trying to kill me! That bird knew something was up and he was trying to protect me.” 

They both chuckled for a moment, stealing small glances at one another. In the moment, Renjun was able to appreciate Yukhei’s giant smile and wide eyes. He didn’t want to admit it, but Yukhei was, _by definition_ , attractive. In his profile photo Renjun could tell he’d be handsome, but no profile could do that smile justice. It made Renjun spiral into a pool of self-doubt. He was really about to kill this one-legged guy with a sweet smile and kind eyes, this guy that, despite Renjun’s initial intentions, risked his neck to help treat his injuries. He even offered refuge. 

“Look, Renjun,” Yukhei started, leaning on his left leg to push himself up. “You should go get some sleep. Take the hot water bottle and rest it where it hurts. Rotate it with the ice pack every now and then. I’ll go get Cornelius and then you can go to bed-”

“Yukhei.” Renjun interrupted. 

Yukhei turned back to quirk and eyebrow at Renjun. “What?” 

“Thank you. I’ve been a dick, but I’ll repay you someday.” 

Yukhei paused, licking his lips. He looked up, before taking in a big breath. “You can repay me by killing Johnny.” He smiled, before walking back to relocate his bird.

Except for the faint fluttering of wings, Renjun sat in silence. That was a big request, but how could he refuse. Killing was his job after all.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading! please leave kudos and comments!!! and feel free to follow my twitter and leave feedback or questions in my cc :3 
> 
> [my cc](curiouscat.me/haeyaaus)  
> [my twitter](my%20twitter.com/ukiyohei)
> 
> thank u for reading!!!


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